June 13, 2018

RADIOPLAYER TO LAUNCH IN SWITZERLAND

Radioplayer Worldwide (RPW) has signed a licensing agreement with Switzerland to form Swiss Radioplayer. The platform will use the Radioplayer technology, designed and developed in partnership with broadcasters over the past seven years.

Swiss Radioplayer will feature around 150 stations in French, German, and Italian, for Switzerland and Principality of Liechtenstein in a collaboration between public service and private radio groups. It brings together the Swiss Association of Private Radios (VSP), the Union of Local Non-commercial Radio Stations (Unikom) and the Regional Radio Union of the French part of Switzerland (RRR) as well as the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR). The three private associations, together with the public service SRG SSR, have created "Swiss Radioplayer GmbH", in which they each have a 25% stake.

Jürg Bachmann, President of the Swiss Private Radio Association (VSP) and Chairman of Swiss Radioplayer said: "I am glad that so many radio stations have joined this industry project in such a short time. This joint appearance and integration into a European solution will do much to ensure that Swiss radio stations are also found on all digital platforms."

Switzerland represents an important new market for Radioplayer, as it not only helps to broaden its European collaborations, but also adds Italian language radio stations to its growing list of services.

Swiss Radioplayer will launch later this summer across multiple platforms, including an industry-wide web player, and world-leading apps for iOS and Android. The agreement will also see Swiss broadcasters benefit from Radioplayer’s partnership with the Audi/VW group and other car manufacturers. The ‘Worldwide Radioplayer API’ powers new hybrid radio interfaces, capable of switching automatically between DAB, FM, and streaming. It also includes rich data such as podcast and catchup programmes, station recommendations, and phonetic spellings of station names (to support in-car voice interfaces and smart speakers).

The Radioplayer model was first developed by the BBC and commercial radio in the UK. Unlike other radio aggregation platforms, each Radioplayer system is specific to the country in which it is launched, and operated by the stations it serves. There are shared technical standards for the browser Radioplayers, the radio-discovery apps, and the back-end systems which power them - now delivered by new tech supplier, Aerian – but broadcasters retain control over their own branding, streaming, and commercial deals.

Swiss Radioplayer will also be available through integrations with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, Smart Device Link, Chromecast, smartwatches, and Sonos - all powered by the Radioplayer metadata platform, featuring the world’s best search and recommendation engine for radio.

Lawrence Galkoff, General Manager for Radioplayer Worldwide said: “I am delighted to welcome another new country to the growing Radioplayer family. We look forward to 2018 being a great year for Radioplayer as more countries realise the importance of being part of an organisation that is run by broadcasters, for broadcasters and their listeners.”

ENDS

For more press information about Radioplayer please contact Lucy Goodwin on: +44 203 189 1951 or email: [email protected]

About Radioplayer Worldwide Radioplayer Worldwide is a partnership between UK Radioplayer and the countries which have rolled out the Radioplayer model (Germany, Ireland, Austria, Norway, Belgium, Canada and Peru). It was created to explore opportunities for international technological collaboration across radio. For more see www.radioplayerworldwide.org or follow @rpworldwide on Twitter.

About UK Radioplayer Radioplayer launched in 2011, in a ground-breaking partnership between the BBC and commercial radio. It now has around 500 UK radio stations - including all BBC national and local services, all major commercial stations, and a selection of community and student radio. For more information see www.radioplayer.co.uk or follow @ukradioplayer on Twitter.